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By Jon Mezzera, Torch Specialist

SMACKDOWN HITS

VIP Lounge: This wasn’t necessarily a great segment. It was very interesting which is why I am giving it a Hit. It was uncomfortable at times to watch. We aren’t used to such reality seeping into a WWE storyline. I was shocked to hear Jeff Hardy openly admit to being suspended. The whole thing was just mesmerizing. Montel Vontavious Porter was very good in his role. He is great on the mic and played the antagonizing figure very well. Hardy was solid. You could tell he was speaking more from the heart. Any thought of MVP as a babyface in this situation for pointing out some truths about Hardy went out the window when he talked about Hardy’s dead dog. It was uncomfortable at times, but I was totally captivated. I really want to see where this goes, and an MVP vs. Hardy feud has a ton of potential.

Battle Royale: This is a marginal Hit. It wasn’t a great match, but it was good. It had some nice moments. I liked when Umaga nailed both The Big Show and The Great Khali with kicks right before the commercial. Jeff Hardy was definitely the star. His elimination of Big Show was very good. He showed great enthusiasm and intensity as he saw his WWE Title opportunity before him. The crowd was really into his attempt at the end to eliminate Khali. I was expecting Umaga to get the win here. That would have been better than Khali (more later). There were too many times early when it didn’t look like anyone was trying to throw anyone else over the top rope. It is important to hurt your opponents first, but there wasn’t the feeling of intensity or desperation to try to eliminate others early in the match. But, I did like how this Battle Royale sets up a few feuds going forward. Umaga vs. Big Show can be good. It furthered the budding feud between MVP and Hardy. In the end, the Battle Royale had an exciting finish with Hardy to make up for some lackluster moments.

Match Purposes: The under card matches were all short, but they all had at least solid action while they lasted. The important thing is that they all served a purpose. Shelton Benjamin got a chance to talk before his match vs. Jimmy Wang Yang and put over his US Title win at the PPV. The match gave him a chance to have a strong decisive win. Kurt Hawkins vs. Festus advanced the feud that has been brewing the last few weeks between Hawkins & Ryder and Jesse & Festus. Now that the newly won Tag Team Championship is involved, the feud gains some steam. Stevie Richards vs. Vladimir Kozlov was another strong showing for Kozlov. It set up Kozlov’s demand afterwards for stronger competition. Michelle McCool vs. Maryse gave the new Divas Champion (that belt looked silly on McCool as it was about five sized too big by the way) a strong win in her first night as Champion. It also further established the Brazilian Heel Hook as a strong submission finisher. Brian Kendrick vs. Shannon Moore gave another strong win for the new Kendrick. It also gave him a chance to talk, which was good. This was a better way to establish his new character than just having him show up last week while the announcers tried their best to talk about him. In the end, none of the matches were great. They were all short. But, they all served a purpose. I wish more time had been given to them, but at least I didn’t question why any of them were taking place.

Final Segment: What made this segment work was the great performances by Edge and Vickie Guerrero. Edge was at his best in his attempted sincere apology and explanation to Vickie about what happened last week. He played his part to perfection. Vickie was very good as well. She really made it seem like she accepted his apology. Even as she revealed that she had reinstated The Undertaker, she acted at first like she felt bad about it, as she did it while she was still mad at Edge. It was hard to read what was really going on inside of her mind, which helped make the segment so good. It was one of her better performances. I am a bit surprised that they are bringing Undertaker back so soon, although it does make sense in the context of the storyline. I am curious to see where WWE goes with Vickie. She is a good heel. I don’t see her being a good babyface. But, I do want to know where they go from here, which is a good thing.

SMACKDOWN MISSES

Replaying the Replay: Smackdown has done this too often lately. They start the show with a long replay of recent events, which I can totally accept, then replay the replay later in the show, which I can’t accept. Give me more original content. We also get the Raw rebound and replays of the Generation Rescue videos. I don’t mind the latter, because it is an important cause that WWE is getting involved in. I can do without ever seeing a Raw rebound again. And I can definitely do without having to sit through the same recap video twice in the same show.

Khali as #1 Contender: I can’t be the only one who groaned when Hardy eliminated the Big Show from the Battle Royale. You knew they weren’t going to give Hardy the win, so at that moment you knew it was going to be Khali, which is very disappointing. As I said above, I would have rather seen Umaga get the win. Umaga vs. Triple H has a much better chance at being a good match at SummerSlam than Khali vs. Triple H. I don’t understand giving Khali a title shot at this point. The conspiracy theorist in me says that Triple H wants to have a strong win over the largest opponent possible. Having Khali in the title picture is disappointing.

Still Too Much La Familia: Once again, La Familia dominated this show. Their presence was felt all night. It started with the long replay of the wedding reception last week. Edge had a meeting with Ryder & Hawkins. We saw Hawkins vs. Festus. There were multiple camera shots from outside of the arena waiting for Vickie Guerrero to arrive. There was a scene between Edge and Alicia, with Bam Neeley listening in. Then there was the replay of the video from the beginning of the show which I already complained about. Then we finally got Vickie’s arrival, being escorted by Chavo Guerrero, as Bam Neeley talked about Edge. Then there was a scene with Edge telling Neeley to tell Vickie to meet him in the ring. Then Neeley relayed that message, or at least tried to, to Vickie. I will say that Neeley played his part well and showed more character than we’ve ever seen from him. Then of course, the show ended with the good scene between Edge and Vickie in the ring. I understand this is a long running storyline. But, there was too much focus on them. They dominated the show and I would have rather seen more time given to the matches and less time to La Familia.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com's Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw, Smackdown, ECW, and TNA Impact each week. Email him at jmezz-torch@sbcglobal.net.

For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare For another view from the original Hitlist author, compare Jason Powell's views to mine by visiting prowrestling.NET's "Hitlist" section here.

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